Measure of a Man Other Alternate Ending Continuation
by StoriesAreMagic
Summary: The ninja have finally gotten Zane back, but will he be okay? The healing process is difficult, but Zane's got his family boosting him up. (Sequel to Measure of a Man, specifically the Other Alternate Ending, being done as a second set of fills for Ninjago Angst Week.)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'd mostly thought I was done with Measure of a Man, but Ninjago Angst Week inspired me and so here is a semi-sequel to the Other Alternate Ending! It's based off of Ninjago Angst Week's prompts. As this is a sequel, I would highly recommend reading Measure of a Man and Measure of a Man Other Alternate Ending before reading this, otherwise... Well, you're gonna get real confused. Enjoy!**

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The welcome-Zane-back party was finally in full swing, Lloyd noted with satisfaction as he came back into the biggest conference room with another tray of snacks from the kitchen. It had taken a few minutes to get everything set up, and a few more minutes to get Zane to relax into having a good time, but now Zane seemed like he was convinced he was finally back and safe and home and all that, and everyone was enjoying themselves immensely.

Lloyd eavesdropped shamelessly as he went to set down the snacks. Ed and Edna were sharing stories about Jay's growing-up with Cole and Jay, the former of whom had a huge grin on his face and the latter of whom was covering his face with his hands but still laughing. Nya and Kai were by the snacks, arguing playfully over which type of cheese went best with which type of cracker, and if one of them didn't end up in a headlock given by the other by the time the argument was over, Lloyd would be more than surprised. The Royal Blacksmiths were taking a break from singing their hearts out to listen to Sensei Wu tell them stories about past adventures the ninja had gone on, and Lou kept sending shocked looks of either pride or dismay Cole's way depending on what Wu was saying at the moment. Dareth and Zane were sitting at the table chatting, and after Lloyd put the snack tray down and filled a plate for himself he headed over to them.

Pulling out a chair, Lloyd sat next to Zane and wondered, "What're you guys talking about?"

"I was just filling in our friend here on what he's missed in the past few weeks," Dareth explained.

"There were protests against the original court's decision?" Zane checked with Lloyd.

Lloyd nodded. "Uh-huh. A lot of people were mad that Judge Manthus declared you property. There were a bunch of protests of support for us and the appeal."

"And a few counter-protests," Dareth added, clueless to the glare Lloyd gave him.

"And lots and lots and lots of counter-counter protests that went against the counter-protests to support us and you," Lloyd finished quickly, wanting to make Zane knew that the majority of Ninjago had been behind him.

Zane nodded. "That is good to know."

"The lovely Gayle Gossip did a report on us ninjas' efforts to get the decision appealed. Ah, Gayle Gossip," Dareth said, voice trailing off dreamily.

"Did Dareth tell you about Ninjago for Nindroids?" Lloyd asked.

Zane shook his head slightly.

"It was a petition calling for getting Judge Manthus's decision overturned, and it got soooo many signatures," Lloyd said happily, popping some food in his mouth.

"You got support, Zane," Dareth crowed.

Zane smiled, glancing down at the table, then some sort of emotion flickered in his eyes and the smile dropped off his face immediately. It was replaced by an expression of what looked like fear. That couldn't be. What was there to be afraid of here?

"Zane?" Lloyd asked uncertainly.

Zane shrunk back from Lloyd, staring straight through him. "No. Please, Lloyd, no, don't, don't."

"Don't? Don't do what?" Lloyd repeated.

Zane pushed his chair back from the table and jumped into a standing defensive position. "Please, Lloyd, no!"

The party around them ground to a halt at Zane's shout. Everyone stared at him in concern.

"Zane, what's wrong?" Kai asked, coming over to stand by Lloyd's chair. He looked at Lloyd when Zane didn't answer, just stared at him with wide eyes. "Lloyd? What happened, Lloyd?"

"I don't know," Lloyd admitted. "We were just talking with Dareth and then all of a sudden Zane started asking me not to do something."

"Zane, buddy, you okay?" Cole asked, stepping over to stand next to Zane.

Zane twitched and spun around to face Cole, backing away from him. "No, not you too, Cole, don't, please don't."

Cole frowned. "Don't what, Zane?"

"Don't experiment on me," Zane said quietly.

"Zane, we would never," Nya interjected fervently, coming close on Zane's other side.

"Then why, why are you here, why do you have those?" Zane said fearfully, pointing at Nya's hands.

Nya looked at the plate of cheese and crackers in her hands. "...To eat?"

"Those are not things you can eat, those are tools of scientific inquiry, tools of pain," Zane insisted, still gesturing at Nya's hands. "I can see them. You cannot hide them from me, I can see them."

"Zane, I'm holding cheese and crackers," Nya said slowly, taking a step closer.

Zane took a step back, but bumped into Jay, who had been coming close with concern. Turning swiftly, Zane backed himself up against a wall. "No, please, don't lie, I can see them! You all have those tools, Azizi's tools. Why? Why would you help her?"

The other ninja and Nya stared at Zane then at each other worriedly. What was going on?

"Everyone who is not a student of mine, please exit the room and wait in the hallway," Sensei Wu interjected.

Ed, Edna, the Royal Blacksmiths, Dareth, and the Garmadon parents slowly began edging for the door, watching the ninja and Nya but especially Zane with concern and confusion. Zane watched them leave with wide eyes but didn't say a word.

"Zane," Wu said gently once the sound of footsteps had faded, coming closer but stopping when Zane cringed against the wall at his approach. "We are not helping Azizi. We just got you back from her, remember?"

Zane blinked at him uncertainly. "But- but you have her tools. You are going to use them to experiment on me."

"No, we aren't," Jay refuted. "We definitely aren't."

"We would never," Cole added.

"I do not understand," Zane whispered, looking around with bewilderment in his eyes.

"You see Azizi's tools, right? But you also see us, don't you?" Nya asked.

Slowly, Zane nodded.

"You see us," Kai picked up the thread of conversation, realizing where his sister was going. "You know us."

"We're your family," Lloyd added earnestly. "We won't do to you any of the things Azizi did to you."

Sensei Wu nodded. "We promise."

Zane squeezed his eyes shut for several seconds. When he opened them a few moments of baited breath later, his eyes trailed over Jay, Cole, Kai, Lloyd, Wu, and Nya, stopping on Nya. Quietly, he stated, "Nya, you are holding a plate of cheese and crackers."

"That's right," Nya stated.

Jay let out a long breath that ended in a terse little laugh. "Whoa. Okay, did that freak anyone else out?"

Cole elbowed him sharply.

"What? I'm freaked out," Jay protested.

"I am 'freaked out' as well," Zane put forward. "I am not sure what just happened. Out of nowhere, everyone seemed to be holding all sorts of harmful tools and fear was flooding my system. I was certain you all had betrayed me, although I don't know why I had that certainty."

"I'm guessing Azizi's experiments screwed something up with your senses and emotions," Nya speculated.

Zane nodded slowly. "That would make a lot of sense. Doubtlessly my entire system needs repairs. Azizi's scientists were far from reliable in mending me."

"Would you like to begin doing that now?" Sensei Wu offered. "Or would you prefer to finish the party?"

"Finish the party," Zane stated. "Some merriment would be beneficial."

The other ninja and Nya gave each other and their sensei skeptical looks, but Sensei Wu nodded. "Certainly. Would you go out into the hallway and get our guests?"

"Certainly," Zane agreed, and he headed out.

As soon as he was through the doorway, Lloyd, Nya, Kai, Jay, and Cole shot Wu accusatory looks.

"You really think we should just keep partying after what just happened?" Kai asked hotly, but he kept his voice down so that those in the hall, especially Zane, wouldn't be able to hear it.

Sensei Wu tilted his head to one side. "Truthfully, I am uncertain. But Zane has had the ability to make choices taken away from him for the past weeks. It will be important for us to allow him to choose how he goes about the healing process, for it will surely be a lengthy and difficult process. We may help him, and we may suggest things to him, and we may even push him to move forward at times, but for the most part he will need to lead us in how we can assist him. This is his journey, and we will do our best to help him, but he must be in charge of it all, for the healing process is just beginning."


	2. Chapter 2

As the ninja got ready for bed that night, they chatted lightly about the party, which had continued throughout the rest of the day. The chatter lasted them all the way to their beds, transforming eventually into a conversation about what they each looked forward to doing the next day by the time they were each settling in. They said their good nights to each other and Lloyd, as the one with the bed next to the light switch, turned off the lights.

The rhythm of breathing in the room slowed and steadied, and each of the ninja drifted off in the near silence.

Then, either minutes later or hours later, it was hard to tell, a soft sound.

Jay's eyelids rose up at the same time his mind rose up from sleep, initially confused. Was that- had that been what it sounded like?

The sound came again.

Yeah, that was exactly what it sounded like the first time. That was a sob.

Jay sat up and looked around the room, and in the darkness he could just make out three other figures doing the same thing from Kai's, Cole's, and Lloyd's beds. That had to mean-

"Zane?" Jay whispered, then, a little louder, "Zane, are you awake?"

A quiet cry was the only response.

"Lloyd, turn on the lights," Cole suggested, and a moment later there was the sound of a light switch flipping and the room flooded with light.

Hopping out of his bed, Jay trotted over to Zane's bed, secretly rejoicing at the fact that it was occupied once again, and peered down at the nindroid. "Zane?"

Zane's eyes were tightly closed, and he was very, very still for several moments. Then his lips parted and a soft whimper emitted from them.

"He's dreaming about something," Jay realized.

"No," Kai said darkly, striding forward toward Jay and Zane. "He's having a nightmare about someone."

Without another word, Kai placed a hand on Zane's shoulder and shook him, albeit much gentler than the way Kai would usually shook someone awake. Granted, normally Kai was waking someone to get them training, not trying to release someone from a nightmare.

Rocketing upward into a sitting position, Zane's eyes shot open. He looked around wildly, confusion and fear obvious on his face.

"You were dreaming," Jay said quickly when Zane's unfocused gaze fell on him. "Well, you were, nightmaring, really, but that's not a word, not really, at least not one that gets used a lot or is any dictionary, probably-"

"We thought we should wake you up," Kai interrupted. "I thought so, at least."

"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked, coming a little closer.

Zane turned to look at him. "...Not really."

"Is there anything we can do?" Cole asked.

"Not really," Zane repeated tiredly, wrapping his blankets around himself until only his head peeked out.

"You're sure?" Cole checked, also coming closer.

"I am sure," Zane told him. "Do not worry about me. I have withstood all that has been thrown at me so far, I should be able to withstand a few nightmares."

Cole looked unconvinced. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Lloyd, doesn't Sensei Wu have some tea that's supposed to be good for nightmares?"

"Yeah, I think so," Lloyd agreed. "I can go look for it."

"There is no need for that," Zane said quietly.

"That's a good idea," Cole stated. "Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?"

"I do not want anyone to have trouble themselves," Zane insisted.

"Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?" Cole asked again.

"It is not a big deal," Zane hedged.

Raising his eyebrows, Cole leaned forward and repeated, "Zane, could you drink some tea if Lloyd got it?"

"...Yes," Zane gave in.

Cole turned, probably to ask to Lloyd to go get the tea going, but Lloyd was already out the bedroom door.

"While Lloyd gets the tea going, do you want to tell us what you were having a nightmare about?" Jay suggested.

Mouth pressed in a thin line, Zane shook his head.

"You sure?" Kai asked, leaning not very casually against one of Zane's bedposts.

"I am sure," Zane stated firmly.

Kai opened his mouth to press further.

Jay beat him to the punch, saying quickly, "So, did Lloyd tell you everything that's been going on in the past couple of weeks?"

Looking grateful, Zane answered, "He began to, but I doubt he covered everything."

"Well, we haven't really been working on the academy, what with being super busy with preparing for the appeal, but we got a little done when we took breaks. You're going to love what Nya's got done in the kitchen, it looks so much better now," Jay rambled, trying to get Zane's mind off of what he had been having a nightmare about in the hopes that it would help Zane not to have another nightmare when he went back to sleep.

Jay talked about the academy for a while, with Cole and Kai chiming in as they realized, Cole quicker than Kai, what Jay was going for. That transitioned naturally enough into a conversation about who would be teaching what subjects, a topic that tended to get heated or at least tense very quickly but in that case stayed relatively calm without even any usual half-joking threats to battle each other for their subject of choice. Sooner than Jay had expected, Lloyd came back into the room with a teacup cradled carefully in his hands. Zane freed a hand from his self-made blanket cocoon and took the teacup from Lloyd, sipping from it as the conversation died off gradually.

After the few moments of amiable silence that followed the slow end of the conversation, Cole asked, "You going to be okay going back to sleep, Zane?"

Zane nodded, placing the now-empty teacup next to his bed. "Certainly. Thank you all."

"No problem," Kai dismissed.

"Any time," Lloyd agreed, going to turn off the lights.

They all lay down in their beds once more, getting comfortable. Jay closed his eyes and began drifting off.

Sooner rather than later, however, a cry rang out through the room again.

Jay sat up. "Zane?"

No answer.

"Zane, are you okay?" Jay asked.

"Please," Zane whispered in response.

"Guess nightmare-reducing tea doesn't work on nindroids," Kai sighed, and Jay could just see him sitting up and starting to climb out of bed.

"Should we even wake him again?" Lloyd asked.

Kai paused in his movements. "What?"

"I mean, is it better for him to keep getting woke up and all disoriented and stuff but not be in the nightmares, or is it better for him to get some sleep but have to dream about bad things happening?" Lloyd rephrased.

"Huh. Don't know," Kai admitted.

"I kind of think he should just sleep," Lloyd stated. "Didn't Nya and Jay learn that they were keeping him from sleeping a lot?"

"We did," Jay agreed, recalling what he had found out. "Something about seeing if lack of sleep would make him make mistakes or something sick like that."

"So he really needs to sleep," Kai realized. "Okay, yeah. We should let him sleep."

Kai got back into bed and each of the ninja remaining awake settled in, trying to get some rest despite the near-constant sounds of fear and pain coming from their brother's bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Nya was more than a little concerned at what she observed as the ninja trudged in a line into the dining room in the morning. They each looked incredibly tired, eyelids barely at half-mast and mouths opening to yawn in turns.

"What happened to all of you?" Nya wondered, setting the last of the breakfast things on the table and sitting down.

Eyes darted and heads turned to the back of the line, where Zane was rubbing his eyes with one hand. After a moment, he noticed the other ninja looking at him and appeared to register Nya's question, stating sheepishly, "Evidently I was quite vocal while I had nightmares."

"You had nightmares?" Nya asked.

Zane nodded. "I have already apologized for keeping the others up; however-"

"We wouldn't have it," Lloyd finished, seating himself at the table. "You're the one who's having to have nightmares, we're just having a little trouble sleeping, it's not a big deal in comparison."

Despite looking unconvinced, Zane nodded before following Lloyd's example and sitting down at the table.

Kai, Jay, and Cole sat down as well, and the conversation turned to the lighter topic of Kai and Jay arguing over who got the last of their current favorite cereal.

Nya watched them and smiled at their antics, but out of the corner of her eye she kept watch on Zane. He seemed to be doing decently, a bit overly tired, yes, but if he'd had nightmares all night that made sense. Nonetheless, she wanted to keep an eye on him. It hadn't even been a full day that he'd been back, not nearly enough for him to start feeling one hundred percent again.

Jay won the right to eat the last of the cereal he wanted by virtue of annoyance in that he started repeating everything Kai said in slightly higher tones and Kai resorted to pouring himself a bowl of a different cereal just to get him to stop. Cole and Lloyd, who had been amusing themselves by watching Kai and Jay argue and occasionally siding with one or the other, began picking what they wanted to eat, and Nya followed suit. After a moment, Zane did as well, but Nya noted his hesitation and filed it away to think about later before starting to eat her cereal, still keeping tabs on Zane but focusing more on her breakfast and the new conversation about what to do first that morning.

"Oh!" Lloyd's exclamation startled Nya a few moments later, and she looked up to see him setting the orange juice down.

Across the table a patch of juice was spreading, having already soaked one of Zane's pajama shirt's sleeves and making its way for Kai's.

"Sorry, guys, guess I'm a little out of it this morning," Lloyd apologized, grabbing for the napkins to start sopping up the spill.

Cole, Jay, and Kai began placing napkins over the spill as well, but Nya didn't. Her attention was fully focused on Zane, who had started to roll up his wet pajama sleeve but now was sitting very still, looking at his arm which was still covered by the soggy sleeve.

"You should probably roll that up," Nya advised him, carefully keeping her tone light, as she wasn't entirely certain what was going through Zane's head. Nothing good, she could imagine, but what exactly? She didn't know.

In response to her comment, Zane nodded slightly and resumed rolling the sleeve up, but as he did so, he pulled his forearm back off the table and tucked it under the table.

Something was going on here, Nya was sure of it now. Calmly, she said, "Zane?"

Now Jay, Lloyd, Cole, and Kai were looking at him too, and judging by the way their eyes were darting between his bowl of cereal and his upper arm with the sleeve rolled up on it, they were suspicious too.

"Why aren't you eating?" Nya asked Zane, and now there was a sharp point to her voice. She wanted to know what was up, and she wanted to know immediately.

Zane looked at her, something vulnerable and almost forlorn in his eyes.

"You have a bite or two left in your bowl. You should eat," Nya suggested.

Slowly, resignedly, Zane nodded. Awkwardly, he brought his now-bare forearm back up on the table to grab his spoon.

Immediately, the calm although slightly tense mood of the room flared into fierce anger. Zane clapped his other hand over his forearm, but it was too late. Everyone had already seen. Visible on Zane's forearm was a long, wide mark, reminiscent of both a cut and a burn.

"What. Is. That," Kai ground out.

"...That would be Azizi not bothering to properly repair my arm in the middle of an experiment because she thought she would have time to continue the experiment after the appeal," Zane remarked quietly.

"So she just left you like that?" Kai demanded.

Zane nodded.

"Does it hurt?" Lloyd wondered, eyeing the thick mark.

Zane hesitated before admitting, "It does, yes, but-"

"It's hurting you?" Kai interrupted. "Why didn't you say something yesterday?"

"To be quite honest, it hurts so much less than everything else has in the past few weeks, so it is almost negligible," Zane answered.

Kai made a low, angry sound in his throat, and Cole's eyebrows were so furrowed that his eyes were barely visible.

"Well, now we know what at least Jay and I doing first today: getting you repaired," Nya said calmly, trying to lighten the mood.

"We should do that right now," Jay decided, pushing his hard-worn bowl of his current favorite cereal away from him and standing.

Nya picked up her own bowl of half-eaten cereal and stood with a nod. "Let's get to it."

"You have yet to finish breakfast," Zane pointed out. "You should do that first."

Nya looked at Jay, and he looked back. She could tell he was thinking the same thing she was.

As one, they sat back down. Then, very quickly, they started scarfing down their cereal, barely even chewing it. Maybe thirty seconds later, they each gulped down their last bite and smirked at each other.

"We finished," Jay told Zane, grinning.

Zane's eyebrows were raised high on his forehead and his hand holding his last spoonful of cereal was hovering right before his mouth. "That-"

"That was us finishing breakfast. Now come on. Let's get you all fixed up," Nya stated.

Slowly, Zane nodded again, and he stood, putting the last spoonful of cereal in his mouth and swallowing it.

"Don't worry about the dishes, just leave them on the table. We can take care of them," Cole interjected.

"Cool. See you later!" Jay chirped, and he stood and hurried to stand to next to Zane. "Let's go!"

"Let's go," Nya echoed, and she stood, still watching Zane as she, Zane, and Jay walked out of the dining room and toward the room that was designated for Jay and Nya's inventing.


	4. Chapter 4

Kai practically threw his breakfast dishes into the sink, letting them clatter around dangerously.

"Hey," Cole warned, a stern reprimand ready on his tongue.

"Sorry," Kai muttered, but he didn't sound all that sorry. He sounded angry, which was unsurprising given the situation, but which was also probably unhelpful.

Cole said as much. "Getting angry isn't going to help."

"Yeah, but it can't really hurt, can it?" Kai challenged.

"It can if Zane gets stuck in his memories of Azizi's experiments again like he did at the party. He might think we're angry at him instead of angry at the situation," Lloyd pointed out.

Kai appeared to think about that for a moment. "...Okay, I could see that. So what would help, then?"

"Probably doing the same thing we did last time, just acting calm and reassuring," Cole mused. "Hopefully Zane, Nya, and Jay can figure out why that happened and fix it so it doesn't happen again, though."

"But they might not fix it," Kai said, scowling, "I hate this."

"Me too," Lloyd agreed.

"Me three," Cole sighed. "Out of all the enemies we've faced, the Skulkin and the Serpentine and the Stone Army and everyone, it was just an every-day person who really hurt us."

"Who really hurt Zane," Kai added, then hesitated. "Although by hurting him, she did hurt all of us, but in a less obvious way. More of hurting us inwardly than all the physical and mental ways she hurt him."

"How do we go forward?" Lloyd wondered, changing the topic slightly.

Kai and Cole looked at him.

"Like, how do we recover?" Lloyd clarified. "How do we go about life knowing that Azizi is out there with all this information about Zane and how to hurt him and we can't do anything about it?"

"She can't do anything either," Cole pointed out.

"She can't do anything more," Kai corrected, frowning. "She's already done too much."

"So how do we go forward with everything she's done?" Lloyd repeated.

"I guess we just do whatever we can to help Zane," Cole mused. "That's really all we can do."

"But what if he doesn't want our help?" Kai asked. "You guys saw the way he tried to hide that mark on his arm. What if he acts like nothing happened?"

"Then we wait until he does want our help and do everything we can think of to help him in the meantime," Cole said determinedly.

Kai and Lloyd nodded in agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

Wu had known Zane for a long time, had trained him and taught him and helped him learn about himself, and in doing so Wu had learned a lot about Zane as well, from his preferences to his habits. Zane felt a strong bond with pretty much all animals. Zane loved to cook and found great happiness when others enjoyed his meals. Zane didn't understand jokes most of the time, but if he turned on his humor switch, he would find it easier to laugh along even if he didn't understand what was funny. Most prominent in Wu's mind right now, however, was the fact that Zane had a strong tendency to keep things to himself, especially things that hurt him. Zane would put a positive spin on whatever situation he was in when he explained it to others and put a content or even pleased expression on his face, but inwardly and secretly, he would be in pain.

The current situation reminded Wu of this habit of Zane's heavily. Zane was obviously happy to be home, but that didn't change the fact that he had been through quite an ordeal. Azizi had hurt him over and over, both physically with her experiments and emotionally with her insistence that he wasn't a person. He had been affected deeply, Wu could tell by the crookedness of his smile and the strain of his voice. But Zane refused to acknowledge that he was still hurting. He acted as if coming back had been all he needed to get better, as if the mental wounds could heal as easily as Jay and Nya healed the physical wounds.

Wu was very concerned about Zane, but Wu waited to talk to him until Wu could get him alone. That took quite a while, as no one really wanted to leave Zane's side now that they had finally gotten him back. Wu couldn't blame them; he felt much the same way. However, it meant it was several days later when Wu was able to get Zane by himself.

While Zane had been gone, the others had taken turns preparing meals when Zane would normally be the one doing so. Now that he had returned to them, though, Zane was back to cooking, and it was while Zane was cooking a few days after his return that Wu finally got to talk to him one-on-one.

Knocking on the door frame to the kitchen, Wu leaned in, looking around and finding much to his satisfaction that Zane was the only one in there. "May I enter?"

"Of course," Zane replied, turning to give him a small smile before returning to chopping the lettuce in front of him.

"I've been wanting to talk to you," Wu said, trying to sound casual.

Evidently he failed to sound casual enough, because Zane froze in his spot. Slowly, Zane put down the knife and looked at Wu. "What about?"

There was no point in hiding it. Wu got straight to the point. "About what Azizi did to you."

Zane's face went blank. Flatly, he stated, "We do not need to talk about that."

"Why not?" Wu challenged.

"I am fine now. I have been repaired and restored to all of you, and so I am fine," Zane replied.

"I am not sure I believe that," Wu said carefully. "You've been jumpy and on edge, and the other ninja tell me you are having nightmares still."

"Those are not things of any consequence," Zane said stiffly. "Physically, I am fine."

"Physically, yes, but how are you mentally and emotionally? How are you doing?" Wu pressed.

Zane hesitated. "...I am fine."

"That, I know I don't believe," Wu said firmly. "Zane, I am worried about you."

"Do not be," Zane dismissed.

"I am worried," Wu insisted. "We all are. We want to help you, but we can't unless you let us do so."

"And what if I do not want you to help?" Zane asked.

Wu raised his eyebrows but didn't respond.

"What if I do not want help but just want to move on?" Zane rephrased.

"If you were able to move on, I would be glad of that, but I don't think you are at a point where you are able to do so," Wu said carefully.

Zane frowned. "How is that?"

"You don't act like you are able to move on. To do that, you would have to process what happened and deal with it. Then you could move on. Instead, it would appear you are stifling how you feel and what you remember so that you can act as if it never happened," Wu explained.

"I wish it had never happened," Zane muttered, then his eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe he'd said that aloud.

"That is understandable," Wu said gently before Zane could retract his previous statement or try to explain it away. "What happened was terrible, something I wish had never happened as well. But it did happen, so you must learn how to live with its effects."

Zane appeared to think about that for several moments.

"You will have to deal with it at some point. You may not be ready now, but eventually, you will be," Wu added.

Nodding, Zane turned back to the lettuce he had been chopping.

Sensing that Zane had said as much as he was ready to, Wu slipped away, resolving to bring the topic up again when Zane seemed a little more ready. He would keep trying until Zane was ready, and once Zane was ready, they all would be ready to help him.


	6. Chapter 6

Kai knew that they were supposed to wait and let Zane figure out when he was ready to talk about everything that happened with Azizi. Waiting was not, emphasis on not, his strong point, but they were supposed to wait. And so Kai would wait as best he could.

That was hard, though, and it got harder and harder as time went on and Kai saw the effects of Azizi in every part of Zane's life.

Azizi tormented his sleeping, as Zane had intense nightmares that woke him at odd hours and kept his nights from being restless even when he was able to sleep. Azizi impacted his eating, as Zane ate more now in trying to make up for the lack of food that had been forced on him while being experimented on. Azizi changed him helping in fixing up the to-be academy, because the tools they used often reminded him of tools the scientists had used on him.

Azizi even affected him when they were just hanging out. That was probably worst of all, at least in Kai's point of view. After all, hanging out together as a group was supposed to be a time for having fun, for relaxing, for not having to worry about anything. Azizi's effects had taken that away from Zane, because none of them could anticipate what would impact him, and when and how it would happen. Almost anything could and often did set Zane off. A video game about bringing the law to a lawless city had gun shot sounds that made him tense up. A board game focused on current events had covered the topic of animal experimentation and provoked him into a full-body flinch. Even a dramatic and tragic romance movie, which Zane normally would've found anywhere from bemusing to amusing, had included a part about blood draws which caused Zane to stand up and leave the room. Remote controls scared him, scientists wearing lab coats in video games frightened him, handcuffs and chains on cop shows alarmed him, and discussions of pretty much anything to do with mechanics, statistics, or the way something worked terrified him. Zane was afraid of things that Kai never would have thought of in a million years, and those things found their way into everything Zane did with everyone and made it all stressful for him, including the times that were supposed to be the least stressful.

So yeah, with even downtime going downhill for Zane, Kai found it hard to wait. Zane was finally home but was still suffering, and they couldn't really do anything about it until Zane was ready to deal with it. However, with Zane's ability to make decisions for himself so important given the fact it was taken from him for weeks, Kai was able to hold his tongue and bide his time, only talking about how worried he was about Zane when Zane himself was nowhere in earshot. Wu, Nya, Lloyd, Jay, and Cole all did the same, and together, typically in pairs and trios stealing time by themselves, they worried as a group and waited for Zane to come to them.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thank you all for reading this! I've really enjoyed all of your comments, and I hope you enjoy this final chapter.**

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Zane knew the others often talked about him. It was completely obvious, from the conversations that died off and hurriedly restarted on a new topic to the requests made of him to go do something "real quick," but Zane did not mind. He knew they had good intentions, and more importantly, they cared about him. He also knew why they were talking about him, which he did not mind either. They were concerned about him, and to be honest, he was a little concerned as well. He knew he could not go on forever acting like nothing had happened, but he was afraid of what would happen when he finally faced his experiences.

It was this fear that, perhaps irrationally, led him to what he was doing now, namely standing pressed against the wall in the hallway outside the lounge room inside of which Kai, Nya, Lloyd, Jay, Cole, and Wu were working. Zane was supposed to be getting supper ready, and he would do so in a moment, but for now he would see what the others thought would be helpful. It was likely their insights would prove valuable for once he was ready to process.

For a bit, the others chatted absentmindedly while they worked, hopping from topic to topic, but after a few minutes, the conversation turned more seriously to the topic Zane had been hoping for, namely himself.

"Do you think we should try to convince Zane to go see a therapist?" Lloyd was asking over the sound of someone hammering. "It could help."

"Yeah, but what kind of therapist deals with being treated as less than a person and being experimented on?" Jay wondered.

"I don't know," Lloyd admitted. "I don't actually know anything about therapists other than that they're supposed to be able to help people."

"We don't even know if he'd go," Kai pointed out. "Zane's been trying to act like nothing even happened, like being home for a couple of minutes was all he needed to be fine again. He probably wouldn't go."

"But we could offer it to him," Nya suggested. "That's all we can do for now, offer things and hope he'll take us up on them."

"I wish there was something more we could do, something more solid," Cole mused.

"Zane's healing process is up to him. We may offer assistance, we may encourage, and we may try to persuade him, but in the end it is in his hands," Wu stated.

The conversation trailed off after that, turning to light comments on the task at hand, so Zane turned away and walked down the hall, careful not to make any noise that would indicate he had been listening. He made it to the kitchen and started preparing supper, but his actions were automatic and habitual. His thoughts were on the words he had just heard.

The others all wanted to help and were coming up with to do so, but like Wu said, it was up to Zane.

It was up to him, like everything else. The entirety of his freedom simultaneously weighed him down and lifted him up. While he had been with Azizi, the only thing that was up to him was whether to submit, and by the end of his time there, even that was taken away by the remote control. Now, everything was up to him to decide. He could do whatever he wished, go wherever he wished, be whoever he wished.

And what did Zane do with all this freedom as it became clear to him?

He began to tear up.

It made no sense. He hadn't cried the entire time he was with Azizi, why was he crying now? Why did this overwhelm him, not the experiments, not the scientists, not the dismissals and the cruelties and the wounds both physical and emotional, but this? Why did the same situation he had been in before the first trial hit him so hard after the appeal?

It was because of everything he had been through. Although Zane wished it had not, it had changed him. His choices and his rights and his very personhood had been taken from him, and although they had been returned to him in the end, that did not alter the fact that for a time they had been gone.

Tears began slipping from Zane's eyes. At first he tried to ignore them and continue his cooking, but as they persisted, Zane stopped what he was doing and just stood there, letting the tears come. It felt... Not good, not entirely, but almost soothing. Zane hadn't exactly cried since he'd returned home, but he had broken down in fear and sorrow a few times, although no tears had come. Each time, he had separated himself as best he could from the others until he could get a hold of himself.

This time, however, he felt like that was not the thing to do. He was reminded suddenly of the day this all had started, the day of his father's funeral, as well as the few days before that. His family had helped him through his mourning of his father. They could help him through his mourning of his days with Azizi as well.

With that in mind, Zane headed toward the lounge. Tears still trailing down his face at a steady pace, he headed toward his family, and, although he did not know it with certainty at the time, he headed towards truly healing.


End file.
